Stretcher



June 13, 1944. J. E.'PIKE fsmmcnmn Filed A ril 2'7, 1942 INVENTOR JOHN E. p/KE BY M4 MYM ATTORNEYS,

Patented June 13, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 1 Claim.

My invention relates to improvements in stretchers.

The object of my invention is to provide a stretcher especially adapted to emergency work where a patient or victim of an accident must be transported up or down stairs or over rough terrain where the stretcher must be inclined and the patient may be in danger of sliding on the stretcher surface.

More particularly stated, it is an object of my invention to provide a receptacle to receive the feet of a patient or accident victim while such patient is in position upon the surface of a stretcher.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a receptacle of such structural and material characteristics as to make it possible for the stretcher to be rolled or folded in substantially the usual form.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of a stretcher in full open position and showing my improved receptacle incorporated therewith.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1.

Like parts are designated by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

It is a problem of extreme difliculty involving no little danger to a person being transported on a stretcher where, as in narrow, steep stairways and over rough terrain, the stretcher must be inclined so steeply that the patient may slide upon the usual canvas or other stretcher surface, and while straps may, of course, be used, they are of extreme discomfort to the patient and are necessarily skillfully handled if they are to be effective at all. I have, therefore, provided in a stretcher construction, means for receiving the feet of the stretcher patient so that the patient may brace himself while being carried up or down stairs or at an incline. At the same time I have provided for this purpose a receptacle which is collapsible in the rolling or folding of the stretcher.

The conventional stretcher ID for use in emergency work includes two poles or handles I I and I2 secured in any suitable manner at the side margins of a canvas or other fabric stretcher surface I3. The patient or person to be carried may stretch out at full length on the canvas surface I3 and be carried by two attendants, one at either end of the stretcher, in the manner well known in this art.

My receptacle I4 is made of canvas or other fabric-like material and comprises a box-like receiver for the feet of the patient. The receptacle has a bottom I5, side walls I 6, and a front I1, the precise shape being not critical, but certain important advantages are obtained by the shape of the particular receptacle which I have shown in the drawing, since sufiicient strength is provided in the shape of the respective side walls to adequately sustain the stresses of a heavy patient being carried on the stretcher In. It will be noted that the seam at I8 is a long one and that the side wall I6 is sufiiciently long to provide a, strong attachment of the side wall to the stretcher material l3. Thus the bottom I5 is amply supported.

Each of the side walls I6 and the bottom I5 is attached by means of a flange-like seam construction as at I8 and I9, and since the entire receptacle I 4 is without framework, it is possible to collapse the receptacle to the shape shown in dotted lines at 20 in Fig. 3 whereupon the stretcher may be rolled or folded in any manner comparable to that which the stretcher alone, without the receptacle l4, would be rolled or folded.

In the above description it will be seen that I have provided a device admirably suited to meet the problem referred to in the first paragraph of this description, for when a patient is disposed upon the surface l3 and the patients feet are disposed in my new receptacle I 4, all danger of the patients sliding from the stretcher while the stretcher is inclined downwardly toward the receptacle is removed.

I claim:

In a field stretcher, a body receiving web having pole receiving means and adapted tobe carried with its burden in longitudinally horizontal or inclined positions, a fabric-like collapsible box-shaped member at one end of. said web, said member having a bottom disposed transversely of the web between the poles and positionable approximately at right angles to said web to constitute a foot support for a person thereon, box side walls secured to the web and to the bottom whereby to support and brace the bottom in foot supporting position, and a top wall spaced from the web at all points and connected to the bottom and side walls, whereby said top wall is held free of said web to receive a patients foot, said box-shaped member being mounted on said web independently of poles received in said means.

JOHN E. PIKE. 

